The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1887-09-29
Tho Percussion shells,

The Percussion Shells.
". o. stoddard In the American Magazine.
"Randall," said tho colonel of Or
.illery to the red-faced young man be-
lore him, "these are what I wish to
have delivered first. You must exer-
| Else great care in handling them. They
DO not 60 off too easily, but q smart
Tap right here will explode them.'
His finger was on the nose ola three
inch percussion she'll as he spoke. It
was a very neatly finished affair. Of q
new pattern, from which important
results were expected by 4rtillerists.
The shells were to explode onstriking.
and scatter everything ia 'front.' OF
them in a thoroughly scientific man.
ner.
"All right, sir,' said Randall.
We'll get them out on the levee as
last as we can, and the ammunition
wagons can come for Them"
"1'll not send any until you report q
sufficient number Of shells ready for
transportation"
"All right, SIR, said Randall. as he
touched his hat and marched out of
the colonel's quarters; but he added
TO himself:
They're little the worst-looking
death-machines I ever saw. shall
be glad when the last of them is on
the levee:"
He was mate of one of the smaller
iron. clad, "turtle back gunb0ats of
the Mississippi squadron, and had
been detailed in charge of an ammuni-
zion barge or ''powder-boat." She
had been towed down the river with q
full cargo, and now lay with her head
against the levee at tho powder
landing" between three and four
miles above Memphis.
1t was early in the fourth year OF
the civil war, and it was we'll under
stood that q great deal Of ammuni.
tion would yet be required.
An hour or so later Randall stood
at his post Upon the stern of the barge
watching score Of "roustabouts."
who were going and coming, busily
employed in removing the percussion
shells called for by the colonel.
Every man of them was deeply i'm
pressed with thesolemnity OF the work
he was doing, and was visibly afraid
o. each burden he brought up from the
hold of the barge. All the customary
shouting and singing had subsidized into
befifting gravity: There were no loung
ers on the levee, for: the sentries post
ed at suitable distances prevented the
approach of unauthorized persons.
No craft of any sort WAS mo0red near
the barge which contained so many
tons of compressed powder and peril.
The ridge of the levee was many feet
above the river level, and was already
lined with the terrible cylinders, whose
yet undimmed copper glistened in the
sunshine.
NEARLY done:" said Randall, aloud,
'and I'm glad of it. Can't say I've
any nerves to speak of, but I'D rather
move hundred loads OF mere powder
or ordinary shell. I don't like those
things"
He glanced down at the muddy tor.
rent of the Mississippi, rushing by in
mill race haste, and added:
"l'd be safer in the middle oftheriv-
er than I am here"
He was undoubtly a man of cour.
age and his nerves were such as fitted
him for his present duty, but he was
unable to put away from him strong
sense OF the lonely peril of his post.
Neither could he AVOID a kind of vague
calculation of the enormous destruct-
i've forces chained IN the cargo con-
cealed by the deck he stood upon.
Tramp, tramp, tramp, with SON.
Der steatliness, the athletic "roust-
abouts' went down the companion
way, or came up again, each at re-
turn, bearing one more of the new ex-
plosives. These did not make an un-
duly heavy shoulder-load, and there
was no apparent danger of an acct
dent. The veteran artillervman down
in the hold, who superintendent the
picking up and the shouldering, had
been ceaseless in his admonitions, and
every shell had been lifted with a clear
understanding that, az one 'roust-
about" expressed it:
EFF should sneeze, de she'll would
take dat advantage and go off,"
A transportsteamer, coming down
the river, seemed to sheer away from
the powder landing" as if it were a
place to he Stunned; and Randall
may have been justified in asserting
that:
1.-THE gulls fly high over it, and even
the buzzards wouldn't light on 3 dead
mule if he lay on this levee. It's
dreary work"
So it was. and without extra pay or
honor, except for the ''roustaEouts."
who received double wages. They
were all picked men, and as we'll fitted
for that service as any white men, but
the colonel ofartillery had remarked of
them:
'I'd rather lose them than as MANY
volunteers If anything should hap
pen."
All war material, human or other,
has it's assignable value when the ques-
ton of its expenditure has to be rails
ed. Even n commanding general
knows what regiment he can best az
lord to report as part of the price
paid tor a victory. The colonel did
not put any estimate upon Randall
or the old artilleryman down in the
hold of the barge.
head with his bandanna and saying to
0AAS "a sAu5 o4ue1u "a IOuStdUOuLS.
"Only q couple of dozen more, boys,
and then we can get out of this oven.
It's almost hot enough to fire q bar
rel OF gunpowder, without any fuse or
match either"
Each in turn picked up and should
cred the shell assigned to HIM and
wheeled toward the companionway.
Randall, on the stern of the barge,
with his pencil and tally-book in his
hand, took due note of every man
and shell, but now and then seemed
disposed to turn and stare for a Sec
ond or so at the yellow flood which
went swirling and eddying by.
II could do it," he said, ''if an acct
dent should happen, only there
wouldn't be any warning. "rirst I'd
know ! shouldn't know anything"
At that moment a long, lank, loose
ly-buiIt 'roustabout" came up a
narrow stairway with agleaming tube